Memorial Day Weekend

Well the first holiday weekend of the summer has already come and gone.   The weather wasn't so good on Sunday, but the rest of the time was nice.  The village seemed to be pretty busy and the yard sellers were out in full swing.  There seemed to be a good bit going on everywhere!   No matter how you chose to celebrate, we hope you had a great weekend.

Hopefully, everyone got to take a moment and remember all the brave men and women who have died while serving our country.  Please keep all of our service men and women, as well as their families, in your thoughts and prayers.  I think we all know how difficult it is for the military families as well as those deployed.  We are very grateful for their service and we hope that picnics, yard sales and other activities don't over shadow the real meaning of the Memorial Day holiday. 

June Billing

The June bills will be out later this week.  Jerry and Jeremy are out reading meters today and tomorrow and we will be sending out the bills later this week.  The bills are for April and May's water usage.  Remember that we bill every other month on the even months.  If you have any questions, please give us a call at 951-659-2675 and we would be happy to answer your questions.

Olla Project

At the Earth Fair last Saturday, I introduced a new way of watering.  Unglazed pots buried in the garden are called ollas and are an ancient way of irrigating.  However, they are very efficient and so I felt they would be worth a try. 

You can purchase ollas ready made and they run between $20 and $30 depending on the size.  Or you can make your own by using unglazed clay pots that you can pick up at the nursery or craft store.  They come in a variety of sizes and are very inexpensive to make.  I will do a separate post on how to make one and include pictures.

Jerry and Jeremy were good enough to make me a couple of acrylic boxes so that I can see how the olla is working.

While I will be putting ollas in my own vegetable garden, I thought it would be fun to see how the plants in this container do.  Obviously it is not an idea container since it has no drainage holes, but it is for studying purposes, so we will just do the best we can with it.

I will post pictures of the ollas I put in my garden as well, but that is a few days off.  In the meantime, we will follow my planter here at the water district.  I will be keeping track of how often I have to fill the olla and how well the plants seem to do.



Acrylic planter box with two marigold plants and one olla made from two unglazed clay pots.



Close up of olla in the ground and filled with water.

You can see where the dirt is moist.

Meter Reading

Next week the boys, Jerry and Jeremy, will be out and about reading meters.  Luckily we should have no problems with snow this time.  Bills will be out by the end of next week. We bill ever other month on the even months.  The new bills will be due on June 25th.  If you do not receive your bill, please give us a call as once we mail them we have no control over them.  Not receiving your bill does not mean you do not have to pay it.  We can very easily tell you the amount you owe over the phone, so feel free to give us a call at 951-659-2675 if you do not receive a bill.

Monday Musings

PCWD's booth at the Earth Fair on May 21, 2011



A view of a compost bin made we made out of old pallets.

What a wonderful weekend it was!  The weather was just beautiful.  We had a booth at the Earth Fair and it was great to see so many of our customers there.  Many people stopped by to see our ollas and to learn a little about composting.  We had a fabulous spot in the shade and couldn't have been happier with how our booth looked.  We are very grateful to Holly Owens who was so very helpful and worked with us very closely in order for us to have this wonderful exhibit.

I think the Earth Fair was a great success.  Our neighbor booth happened to be Wild California.  For those of you not familiar with them, they sell California native plants.  You can check out their website at http://www.wildcalifornia.co/.

Wild California had a wide variety of plants available for sale and I have put their website in the links bar on the left side of this blog.  Check them out if you are looking for natives that are available close by.

Rain Again?

What is going on here?  Rain, rain and more rain.  First we had a very wet winter when the experts were calling for El Nina like conditions and now we are getting one storm after another.  This is amazing.  The wells are rising and hopefully the trees and the streams are all being replenished.  Hopefully, the temperatures will stay above freezing.  I guess planting our gardens is on hold for yet another week.

Board Meeting Today

The board meeting for May will be held this morning at 10 a.m.  Hope you can brave the rain and join us!

Board Meeting

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is our monthly board meeting.  It will be held at 10 a.m. in board room here at the water district.  Our address is 24917 Marion Ridge Road.  Hope to see you there.

In case of emergency

Just a reminder that during an emergency situation, you can tune in to WNKI radio at 1610 AM for the latest information regarding the emergency situation.

Monday Musings

It's Monday again folks and the weather is still cold!  Why is it that these cold spells come along on the weekends?  I have long wondered this.  It seems as if Mother Nature is out to get those of us that work Monday through Friday and only have the weekends off.  As of today, I only have lettuce and asparagus planted.  I keep putting off planting my garden due to the weather.  For once, my procrastinating is paying off.  I don't know about you, but I am ready for some 60 or 70 degree days.  Gardening here in Pine Cove is definitely a challenge.  But each year I get a little smarter about it and hopefully one day, I will have it all figured out.

In the meantime, I will start making some ollas for the garden and keep working in some compost.  Fire abatement can be done anytime and is a big one on the To Do List.  Luckily, mine is done.  So I am anxious to get on with the fun stuff.  It seems we have such a small window of time to be out in the garden, so it always seems like a rush to get everything done each summer.  But that is life here in Pine Cove and if I wanted summer year round, I would move to the desert.  I think living up here does make us appreciate the nice weather a little more, since we don't get it as much of it as they do off the hill. So I will keep waiting and when it turns warm for good, I will plant my garden and hope that there is enough time for it to grow and flourish.

Board Meeting Reminder

Our next board meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 18th at 10 a.m.  These meetings are open to the public and everyone is invited to come.  We hope to see you there!

Earth Fair 2011

The Earth Fair will be held on Saturday, May 21, 2011.  The Pine Cove Water District will have a booth there this year with lots of information and some demonstrations.  We hope you will stop by and say hi to us.  We will be there all day long and Vicki will be manning the booth.  We hope to provide a lot of helpful information, not only on water conservation, but on some other subjects as well.  Please drop by the Earth Fair and say hi.  See you there.

Board Meeting!

Just a reminder that our monthly board meeting will be held next Wed. May 18 instead of today.  It will still be held at 10 am in the board room here at the water district office.  We hope to see you there.

This Weather, Yikes!

Well, I thought it was spring, but surprise, not yet.  This is very discouraging.  There is something very wrong about snow in May.  It is depressing!  I don't want cold and snow and ice chunks falling off the trees.  I want sun and 60 degree days and to be out in the garden planting vegetables.  Luckily, I did get a lot of work done in my garden on Saturday, before this storm moved in, so it is getting a nice watering at least.  But, I was just getting started and now have had to put everything on hold. With each storm, I think, OK this is the last one!  However, Mother Nature always has the upper hand and I can never seem to out guess her.  So I guess we will just have to live with it.  The good news is that we are getting more moisture!  So that is wonderful.  Now if only the temperatures would rise we would be in good shape!  Hope everyone stays warm and dry.

Frugal Friday!

It's time for Frugal Friday again folks.  I wanted to share a little story with everyone today.  I admit, I am a lazy composter.  I read and read and read about it, I know it is good to do and I know how to do it.  However, I find at my home it is easier to just pile it up and let nature take it's course regardless of how long it takes.  So my pile has been sitting there for a couple of years now.  I just keep piling stuff in on top and it seemed to be just sitting there doing nothing. 

So last week my daughter decided she wanted to add some new soil to her pot of chives.  Well, I didn't have any bags of top soil around, so she went out to the compost pile, dug around and low and behold, what did she find?  Black Gold!  That's right, the whole bottom half of my compost pile has now turned to black gold, or compost.  She was so excited as she was in the same camp as my husband as far as my so called compost pile, aka, garbage pile goes.  I kept telling them it would turn to compost, but I think they were skeptical as nothing much seemed to be happening.

So this weekend I will be removing all the compost from my pile and turning what is left and adding more to it!  It is so exciting to have free compost to use.  The best thing about making your own compost is that it comes from stuff you were going to throw out anyway.  So why not put it to good use?

Speaking of composting, I have mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating.  If you aren't into having a compost pile and don't want to buy a composter, you can use what is called the trench method.  Simply go out into your yard or garden, dig a hole or a trench, what ever you have room for, and bury your kitchen scraps in the dirt.  Just be sure to dig down deep enough that it isn't easily dug up by the critters.  Your done.  It will decompose and turn to compost and enrich the soil right where you buried it.  You don't have to do anything.  This is an excellent way to provide extra nutrients to your existing plants and trees. 

I would like to encourage everyone to try composting.  It doesn't matter if you do it actively or passively, just do it!  It keeps a lot of waste out of the landfills and is good the the soil and the vegetation growing there.  Plus, soil that is amended with compost retains moisture much better than uncomposted soil.  So there is no down side to being a composter.  Stop by our booth at the Earth Fair on May 21st to find out more about composting.

Due Date Approaching

April's water bills were due on April 25th.  Late notices have been sent out and if a bill isn't paid by May 10th, we will have to add a $15 late fee to your account.  So if possible, please get your payment in before may 10th to avoid a late charge.

Earth Fair 2011

Just wanted to let you all know that the Pine Cove Water District will have a booth at the Earth Fair again this year.  Last year we did a quick set up to see if there would be enough interest to warrant doing a booth again this year and there was!  Happily, people are interested in saving water and other sustainable living ideas.  So we will be back bigger and better this year!

Our focus for this year will be compost, mulch and water in the garden.  While many of you are familiar with soaker hoses, drip systems and so on, we will be showcasing an very old idea that isn't used much any more but should be!  We will have samples of easy to make compost bins and will have samples of the 3 stages of compost as well as ideas on what to compost.

There will be some other things there as well and lots of information.  So we hope you will stop by and visit us and see what Pine Cove Water District is doing to promote water conservation.

Leaks again....

Even though the weather is warming up, there is still the chance of developing a leak.  While freezing pipes aren't an issue at this time of the year, other things can and do go wrong.  Now is a good time to check your outdoor irrigation system if you have one.  In fact, why not have a look at all your exposed pipes?  Better to spot a problem early on and fix it than to have a leak develop.

As always, we recommend that you turn your water off at your customer valve if you leave your mountain home.  This is the single most important thing you can do to prevent a catastrophic water loss due to a leak.  I know we sound like a broken record by saying this, but it never fails that someone develops a leak and doesn't find out about it until after the fact.  One never knows when a pipe is going to break or develop a leak and while you are away is not the time you want that to happen.  If you water is turned off, then no water damage can be done.  Remember, you are responsible for all the water that runs through your meter, regardless of why.  Many people mistakenly feel that if they develop a leak, they shouldn't have to pay for the water that was lost.  I am not sure where that idea comes from, but our board has not adopted a policy to forgive water bills for catastrophic losses.  So even if you have no other motivation to turn your water off when you leave, think of it as a financial decision!

We are still giving a reward of a $25 gift certificate to anyone who finds and reports a leak to us.  We have had several awarded so far this year, so keep your eyes peeled.  It is beneficial for all of us to be water aware.  While there are springs popping up all over Pine Cove due to the wet winter we had, it is best to call us and let us go check it out if you aren't sure.  Who knows, you could be having lunch on us!

Monday Musings

What a beautiful weekend.  I think spring has well and truly arrived.  Even though there was a lot of work involved, it was nice to get out into the yard and start cleaning it up.  I noticed that many people had the same idea this weekend and were raking up their pine needles.  It is amazing how good it feels to get outside and work in the sun after a long winter.  Even though it is hard work, it still feels good to be out there doing it. 

As we know, fire season doesn't necessarily take a break and so we must be vigilant at all times.  If you own a property here in Pine Cove, please be responsible and do your fire abatement.  When you don't, it doesn't just affect you.  It affects every single house around you and your whole block.  Not only from a safety standpoint, but from an aesthetic one as well.  There are homes of all shapes and sizes and from old to new here in Pine Cove, sometimes side by side and that is one of the wonderful things about living here.  No cookie cutter neighborhoods for us!  And while vintage and rustic is charming, old, derelict or unkempt is not.  There is a difference between rustic and rundown.  We love rustic, but rundown becomes a fire hazard as well as attracts rodents and rodents then attract snakes.  While snakes have their purpose in nature, I don't think most people prefer them living in the yard next door.  And I am pretty sure no one wants rodents around either. 

If we all do our part, then Pine Cove will continue to be the lovely, idyllic community it is meant to be.  So as we enter into the spring and summer season, please be a good neighbor and take care of your fire abatement sooner, rather than later.  Everyone will be safer and Pine Cove will continue to be the enchanted forest community that we all know and love.  So let's all get out there and do our part now, so we can enjoy the summer months ahead in peace and safety.

May Board Meeting

This month's board meeting will be held a week later on May 18th at 10 am in the board room. We hope you can attend.